England 170 for 0 (Hales 86*, Buttler 80*) beat India 168 for 6 (Hardik 63, Kohli 50, Jordan 3-43) by 10 wickets

For all of England's game-breaking talent, this win that takes them into the 2022 Men's T20 World Cup final was all about doing the basics right.

They protected the short square boundary in Adelaide, giving away only two sixes until the start of the death overs.

They saw a chance to break open a chase of 169 in the powerplay, when the ball was coming on nicely under the lights, and seized it, smashing 10 boundaries while the field was up.

Pain is powerful, but just as well as it disorients, it brings clarity. In that it forces people to do everything possible to never feel it again. And that's what's happened.

Since that defeat to Ireland, where they kept second-guessing themselves, England have batted and bowled with ultimate clarity. The selection of Hales was one of ultimate clarity. He came with solid experience in Australian conditions. They needed that experience. Buttler made the call. And now here is the payoff.

Hales equalled India's tally of sixes all by himself - seven - reducing their bowlers bowlers to rubble. He even backed himself to clear Adelaide's massive 88-metre straight boundaries.

He must have known this because first ball he charged out of his crease, intent on negating the India bowler's biggest strength. His swing.

These were the kinds of moves Buttler was making all night as he finished on 80 off 49.

He front-loaded Adil Rashid against India's right-hand heavy top-order. And the legspinner took out Suryakumar Yadav.

He reaffirmed Chris Jordan's faith in his yorkers. One of those toppled Virat Kohli off his feet.

Buttler was at the centre of a lot of good things - but most of them probably date back to the drawing board.

Buttler backed Rashid to pull off this heist, and this was even after the legspinner had been punished for a boundary first ball all because he had dared to toss it up.

Suryakumar is the man India look to for acceleration through the middle and the death. With him gone for 14 off 10, the game had changed.

Hardik rising
There was only one phase of play that England lost in this game. And that was when Hardik decided enough was enough.

He was 13 off 15 at the start of the 17th over. India were 110 for 3. They had tried to disrupt England.

Rohit Sharma hit one of the shots of the night - a one-bounce four over extra cover off a near Jordan yorker - but he fell three balls later.

Suryakumar succumbed after hitting Ben Stokes for a six and a four.

All of this prompted Kohli to go into anchor mode, which meant the other guy had to go big.

And Hardik did. He brought out the helicopter shot against Jordan. He escorted a wide yorker for four past short third off Sam Curran. He flat batted short balls all around the park.

India made 58 runs in their last four overs. Fifty of them came off Hardik's bat. This was his scoring sequence from the 18th over: 6, 6, dot, 1, 1, 4, 6, 4, 1, 6, 4, out (having trodden on his stumps while whipping the ball for what would have been another four). Five of those 12 balls were attempted yorkers. Many of them landed pretty close to the perfect spot. But Hardik stands so deep in his crease and brings so much of his wrists into his strokeplay that even they became boundary-scoring opportunities.

From looking like they'd be lucky to get to 140, India had 168. India had hope.

And then nothing. Or maybe its worse than that because now there will be questions about the way they played their first 10 overs (62 for 2 with only seven boundaries) against a team full of power-hitters.

England chasing history
They invented the game. They hosted each of the first three World Cups. They absolutely loved cricket. And there were a few nice moments.

England + Cricket = broken-heart emoji

Now they want "I love you more". Maybe even "I love you most". Because England, through all the twists and turns and tragicomedy, are now just one win away from being the first men's team in history to hold both World Cups at the same time.

It's taken a lot of effort to get here. A complete rewiring of DNA, in fact. Seriously, if you take one of Buttler's cells and put it under a microscope, you'll just see a scoop over fine leg for six.